Panning across the reflection nebula Messier 78

In this video we pan across a new image of Messier 78 from the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory. This provides a closer look at the many strange and fascinating structures hidden in this very detailed image. This colour picture was created from many monochrome exposures taken through blue, yellow/green and red filters, supplemented by exposures through a filter that isolates the light from glowing hydrogen gas. The total exposure times were 9, 9, 17.5 and 15.5 minutes per filter, respectively.